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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 28, 2001
Contact:
Rick Sprott, Director of the Division of Air Quality, (801)536-4151
Bob Dalley, Manager of the Air Monitoring Center, (801)887-0762
The Utah Department of Environmental Quality's "Red Light, Green Light" program, which curtails wood burning along the Wasatch Front during winter inversions, ends its ninth season today.
During the four-month season, which began Nov. 1, 2000, the Division of Air Quality (DAQ) called 10 "red" days and 14 "yellow" days in Salt Lake and Davis counties, four "red" days and two "yellow" days in Utah County and five "yellow" days in Weber County.
Wood-burning conditions are identified as "Red, Yellow, Green" — similar to traffic lights. The program is used to notify citizens when they can burn wood in a fireplace, depending upon pollution levels. "Red" means burning is prohibited and a reduction in vehicle use by using mass transit or consolidating trips is requested. Likewise, industries are asked to minimize their release of air pollutants and ensure that air pollution control equipment is functioning properly. "Yellow" means a voluntary no burn and "green" means burning is allowed.
Particulate matter (PM) is the primary winter pollutant. Wood burning produces soot and dust that are components of particulate, as are emissions from vehicles. Fine particles can become lodged in delicate lung tissue, decreasing lung function, especially for people with respiratory and cardiovascular ailments.
Most of the "red" and "yellow" days were called during the end of December 2000 and beginning of January 2001 when the Wasatch Front experienced one of the worst inversions since the early 1990s. However, even though DAQ issued health advisories as pollution levels increased, health standards for PM10 were not exceeded. The health standard for finer particles (PM2.5 microns) was exceeded a few times.
"This is good news overall. Before pollution controls, this kind of inversion would have caused significant violations of the health standards and had a greater negative impact on public health and the environment," said Rick Sprott, DAQ director.
The PM10 plans are working, but we still have more work to do. There were many people, including healthy individuals, who felt the effects of the inversion. That's why the new standard for PM2.5 is more stringent than the old PM10 standard. We did exceed the PM2.5 standard a few times but not as badly as we would have several years ago. Our air is better, but we will need continued improvement to offset increased emissions due to growth," Sprott said.
The outcome of the inversion also demonstrates the effectiveness and value of the millions of dollars spent by industries for pollution control equipment and by citizens for cleaner-fueled vehicles and for proper vehicle inspection and maintenance.
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